''Autograph'' is a 2010 Indian

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

by debutant director

Srijit Mukherji Srijit Mukherji (born 23 September 1977) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the limelight. His first featur ...

. The movie is a tribute to

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

's 1966 film '' Nayak'' and yesteryear Bengali actor

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar (born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), widely known as Mahanayak (), was an Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema ...

, who portrayed the title role in the film. This was the first collaboration between Srijit Mukherjee and

Prosenjit Chatterjee Prosenjit Chatterjee (born 30 September 1962) is an Indian actor and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading actors of modern Bengali cinema. He predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He is the son of Bollyw ...

. The movie is being remade in Malayalam.

Plot

The film starts with a proposal of remaking

's famous '' Nayak'' by a debutant director and storywriter Shuvobrata to famous Bengali actor Arun Chatterjee. Arun approves Shuvobrata's proposal and agrees to finance the project. Shuvobrata requests his live-in girlfriend Srinandita or Shrin to act opposite Arun. In the meantime, Arun and Shrin become close friends and Arun tells her about various incident from his past in an emotionally triggered condition. The exchange is videotaped accidentally and Shuvobrata on discovering it leaks it to the press, without Srinandita's consent, as a publicity stunt for the film. Srinandita leaves Shuvobrata on learning of this indiscretion. Arun, furious about the leak, bars the film from being released. Arun later learns that Shrin had no role in the leak and apologizes to her. The movie ends with Shrin leaving a note and a phone number for Arun at a roadside dhaba where they had met earlier.

Cast

as Arun Chatterjee *

Nandana Sen Nandana Dev Sen is an Indian-born American actress, screenwriter, children's author, and child-rights activist. Her first film role in Bollywood was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Black'' (2005), starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, in ...

as Srinandita *

Indraneil Sengupta Indraniel Sengupta is an Indian actor and model who works in Hindi and Bengali films and television. Early Life Sengupta was born on 8 September 1974 in Assam, India, to a Bengali Hindu family. He completed his education from Scottish Churc ...

as Shuvobrata Mitra *

Rudraprasad Sengupta Rudraprasad Sengupta (born 31 January 1935) is a Bengali Indian actor, director and cultural critic. Biography Sengupta was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal, the son of Anant Sengupta and Usha Prabha Sengupta. He studied at the Scotti ...

Biswajit Chakraborty Biswajit Chakraborty, (born 1 May 1958) is an Indian film actor who appears predominantly in Bengali movies. He was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. His debut movie was '' Sunya Theke Suru'' directed by Ashoke Viswanathan. He has acted in more t ...

as Manoj Sarkar *

Pijush Ganguly Pijush Ganguly (2 January 1965 – 25 October 2015) was a noted Bengali film, television and theater actor. In 2005 he received the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in ...

as Ashish Chakraborty *

Dwijen Bandopadhyay Dwijen Bandyopadhyay (22 September 1949 – 27 September 2017) was a veteran Bengali actor and theater personality from West Bengal, India. He worked onstage from the 1970s. Bandyopadhyay has also been a professor in the department of Drama at R ...

as Parthapratim Nag * Sohini Paul as Ahona Dasgupta * Dhruv Mookerji as Moloy Dasgupta * Dilip Roy as Tarun Mukherjee *

* Sanghasri Sinha Mitra as Nandini *

Rii Sen Rii Sen (born Rituparna Sen) is an Indian actress who works in Bengali cinema. She started her career as a freelance model and television actress. Her debut film was ''Tepantorer Mathe'', but it was not released in theatres because of obscene ...

as Rupali Gupto

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by

Debojyoti Mishra Debojyoti Mishra (born 30 April 1963 at Kolkata) is an Indian music director and film composer. He became popular with his minimalist classical compositions for the Hindi film '' Raincoat'', directed by Rituparno Ghosh. He also worked on Bengal ...

and

Anupam Roy Anupam Roy (born 29 March 1982) is an Indian Bengali singer-songwriter, music director, composer, writer, guitarist, playback singer, engineer from Kolkata, India. He made his debut with ''Amake Amar Moto Thakte Dao'' & ''Benche Thakar Gaan'', ...

. The lyrics have been penned by

Srijato Srijato Bandyopadhyay is an Indian poet of the Bengali language. He won the Ananda Puroskar in 2004 for his book ''Udanta Sawb Joker: All Those Flying Jokers''. In 2014, he won the Filmfare Awards East 2014, Filmfare Awards East for Best Lyrici ...

and

. The song ''Aamake Aamar Moto Thakte Dao'' turned out to be a popular amongst the Bengali audience. ''Chal Rastay'', ''Uthche Jege Sokalgulo'' and ''Beche Thakar Gaan'' also received wide critical acclaim.

Trivia

The central character of the film is called Arun Chatterjee (

’s real name). Srijit's touches make this film and the central story significantly different from '' Nayak.'' The film makes a few references to great filmmakers like

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

and films like '' Wild Strawberries''. It alludes to the music of R.D. Burman, Red Sky at night by

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

and ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...

''. There is also a sequence which uses the instrumental track "Yumeji's Theme" from Wong Kar Wai's film

In the mood for love ''In the Mood for Love'' () is a 2000 romantic drama film written, directed, and produced by Wong Kar-wai. A co-production between Hong Kong and France, the film follows a man ( Tony Leung) and a woman ( Maggie Cheung) in 1962 who discover tha ...

. There are pictures of Bengali film maestro Ritwik Ghatak and stills of

Chhabi Biswas Chhabi Biswas (''Chabi Biśbās''; 13 July 1900 – 11 June 1962) was an Indian actor, primarily known for his performances in Tapan Sinha's '' Kabuliwala'' and Satyajit Ray's films '' Jalsaghar'' (''The Music Room'', 1958), ''Devi'' (''The G ...

from his most memorable role in '' Jalshaghar'' on the wall of the studio featured in the film. ''Autograph'' is one of the highest grossing Tollywood film of 2010.

Recognition

The film premiered internationally at the

Abu Dhabi Film Festival The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF; ), formerly the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), was an international film festival held in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 2015. History The Middle East Internationa ...

on 17 October 2010. The movie was showcased in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the MIAAC (Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council) film festival, 2010 where it won a nomination for Prosenjit Chatterjee for the Best Actor award. It was also an official selection at the Glasgow International Film Festival and

London Indian Film Festival London Indian Film Festival is a film festival established in 2010 to showcase Indian independent film.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Autograph 2010 films 2010s Bengali-language films Films scored by Anupam Roy Films scored by Debojyoti Mishra Bengali-language Indian films Films set in Kolkata Films directed by Srijit Mukherji